


Close to the Bone

by sasha1600



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-03
Updated: 2013-02-03
Packaged: 2017-11-28 00:59:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/668455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha1600/pseuds/sasha1600
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hathaway reflects on something Lewis said.  References to events in <em>The Point of Vanishing</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close to the Bone

**Author's Note:**

> This can be read as pre-slash/BDSM if you're so inclined, or as James thinking about Lewis as an authority figure in his life. There's discussion in here of corporal punishment of children and adults - if that bothers you, you'd best not read this.
> 
> One line of dialogue borrowed from the episode _The Point of Vanishing_.
> 
> Thanks to Lindenharp for BRing and Wendymr for suggesting the title.

Hathaway keeps his face carefully impassive, grateful that years of practice lets him avoid showing any reaction to Lewis’s quip.

_“Newspapers-down-back-of-trousers time...”_

He’s too young for physical discipline to have been commonplace when he was at school, but he understands what Lewis means, of course. 

And, given his generation, he’d guess that young Robbie likely went home with a sore arse from time to time, after some schoolboy mischief. Familiarity born of experience would explain the casualness of his comment, his ability to joke about Innocent’s response to the mix-up about their victim’s identity. 

For James, there’s something very personal, even intimate, about the thought of bending over and allowing someone to hurt him. He respects the Chief Super, has accepted her rare, well-deserved tongue-lashings without complaint. But he can’t imagine accepting a less metaphorical chastisement at her hands.

He knows his grim-faced silence will be mistaken for embarrassment about the error, concern about its consequences, possibly disapproval of his governor’s efforts at humour. None of that explains the real reason why he finds himself unable to join the casual banter. 

Rather, it’s the uncomfortable knowledge that, if Lewis ordered him to bend over his desk, he’d obey without hesitation.


End file.
